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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22992919">there's a beetle on my back and a wolf at your side</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rupzydaisy/pseuds/Rupzydaisy'>Rupzydaisy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, And then this happened, Gen, S4 Ep11: Turn Left, also i feel like they would have traded names, i watched the last 20 mins of Turn left</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 07:34:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,535</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22992919</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rupzydaisy/pseuds/Rupzydaisy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>They work efficiently; levers are flipped and sliders are slid. Donna hears the crackle of electricity before she feels it sliding over her skin, making her hair stick to her neck. The lights flare bright. It takes her by surprise and makes her squint. Beside her, Rose shifts her feet and the boots squeak on the floor.</p>
<p>Donna's breath catches in her throat while she waits for something to change, something even worse to happen. </p>
<p>And it does. Quicker than she thought it would, the weight on her back feels heavier than ever, more than just the coat itself. Her breathing turns shallower when she hears the soft clicking. When she concentrates, she can feel the pinch of its claws digging into her through the fabric of her coat. </p>
<p>Then what little concentration Donna could scrape together falls apart as a low growl, animalistic and threatening, rumbles around the room. It reverberates through her spine and ribs with every nerve drenched in a flood of panic. Her eyes snap open, and when she twists and turns to try and look at the thing on her back to see what horror it could be, her knee smacks into something furry and warm-blooded. </p>
<p>A wolf. </p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Donna Noble &amp; Rose Tyler, The DoctorDonna &amp; Donna Noble</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>there's a beetle on my back and a wolf at your side</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She’s weighed down by the coat, and on top of the strain on her shoulders and her back killing her, there’s wires poking in her sides, and bits of metal and <em>things</em> in the pockets. Really, all Donna knows is not to get it wet. It’s not like anyone else has paid her much attention apart from telling her where to go and where to stand. </p>
<p>Honestly, it was all just terrifying, even without the knowledge of there being something on her back. </p>
<p>Her eyes pass over everyone in the room, all the technicians and scientists milling around with their clipboards and their wires, and still she’s desperately trying to avoid her own reflection. Her nerves have gotten the better of her again, frayed over the years until she's held together by strands alone. There was a time she would have yelled back when prodded and poked, but not anymore. </p>
<p>Instead, she fidgets with the threadbare edges of her coat sleeves. “Will you stay?”</p>
<p>Rose gives her that crooked, half-smile. Then she tips her head a little, and it's apologetic but not pitying. “I can’t.” </p>
<p>“Miss Tyler.” Captain Magambo calls out, and Rose nods, backing off from the centre of the mirrors facing inwards. </p>
<p>With her heart in her mouth, Donna calls again, slightly louder, “Please! Please stay!”</p>
<p>It makes Rose pause. </p>
<p>Then she sees her sigh, and she feels like choking on her own relief when Rose rolls back on her heels to come and stand by her. </p>
<p>“Miss Tyler." The captain calls out again and her stern expression speaks volumes. Donna recognises it all too well from living under martial law with its curfews because every uniformed soldier ushering a neighbour or friend away. The rest of the room pauses, hands over buttons poised to set the machines in motion. </p>
<p>“Nah, I’m good here.” Rose half-turns to look at the captain, and then she gives a shrug. “Anyway it’s almost harmless to me with all the artron energy I’ve soaked up from travelling around.” </p>
<p>“I must insist, Miss Ty-” </p>
<p>“We tested it on me in the first place. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before. I’m staying.” She snaps back, before giving Donna a little encouraging nod. “S’alright.”</p>
<p>Captain Magambo blinks, clearly uneasy with the push back, but then she turns around to the technicians and gives the order, “Power up.”  </p>
<p>They work efficiently; levers are flipped and sliders are slid. Donna hears the crackle of electricity before she feels it sliding over her skin, making her hair stick to her neck. The lights flare bright. It takes her by surprise and makes her squint. Beside her, Rose shifts her feet and the boots squeak on the floor.</p>
<p>Donna's breath catches in her throat while she waits for something to change, something even worse to happen. </p>
<p>And it does. Quicker than she thought it would, the weight on her back feels heavier than ever, more than just the coat itself. Her breathing turns shallower when she hears the soft clicking. When she concentrates, she can feel the pinch of its claws digging into her through the fabric of her coat. </p>
<p>Then what little concentration Donna could scrape together falls apart as a low growl, animalistic and threatening, rumbles around the room. It reverberates through her spine and ribs with every nerve drenched in a flood of panic. Her eyes snap open, and when she twists and turns to try and look at the <em>thing </em>on her back to see what horror it could be, her knee smacks into something furry and warm-blooded. </p>
<p>A wolf. </p>
<p>Beside her, Rose tips her head down. Her blonde hair falls across her cheeks, and the wolf tips its head up, ears flicking.</p>
<p>When they both turn to face her, Donna can't help taking a step back. </p>
<p>“What. Is. That?” She asks between hard blinks, even though she can see it clearly through the white haze with her own two eyes. </p>
<p>Rose stood there completely unnerved by the sudden appearance by the wolf. Her wolf. Under the lights, where she looked thin and steely eyed, the wolf matched her and looked hungry. Where her tense smile flattened, its jaws slowly dropped open and Donna could see its long, sharp teeth. Its figure blurred like a black shadow melting into the space of the room, both larger and smaller than it seemed, it looked like a bruise that was bleeding out into the air. </p>
<p>“It’s...well, a part of me.” Rose eventually replies evenly, “Just like <em>that</em> is a part of you. You should turn around.”  </p>
<p>“I can’t.”</p>
<p>Donna shakes her head wildly, feeling the weight sink into the back of her ribs, and suddenly all she wants is to claw off the coat and run home. There'd been too much of the impossible lately. Too much of everything. </p>
<p>As she looks down, the wolf's eyes glow gold and the bright white, and when it growls again there's an undertone to it that's almost musical. She can't bear to look at it or Rose any longer, and so she fixed her eyes to the floor. </p>
<p>The wolf darts forward, teeth sinking into her coat, and pulls Donna around. She has to stumble forward to keep up with it, to keep from seeing her own reflection. </p>
<p>There’s something off about it, she can tell from just looking at it. It’s not just an animal, it’s something else as well. It was like looking at Rose, with that far away gaze in her eyes standing like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. </p>
<p>“Tell it to stop!” </p>
<p>Rose steps back, letting her be pulled in circles. “Just look, Donna. Look at it.” </p>
<p>With shaky breaths and even shakier legs, Donna stumbles back and then catches her balance when the wolf finally lets her go. </p>
<p>She sees a flash of black and can't help herself to look closer. It's a beetle, as large as her torso, with six horrifying spindly legs clinging on to her coat. The sight of it makes her stomach turn and she wants to curl inwards or sink to her knees, but she can't, not with it hooked onto her. </p>
<p>“What is it?” Donna asks shakily, turning her head back and forth to try and get a proper look at it. “Get it off! Can someone get it off me!”</p>
<p>Her words quickly turn to sobs, only she's too scared to cry. </p>
<p>Rose edges forward to take her hand, giving it a squeeze with her calloused palm. “We can’t do that. Only you can.”  </p>
<p>With heaving breaths and wide eyes, Donna finally cranes her neck around far enough to look, and <em>sees</em> it. </p>
<p>XXX</p>
<p>When she’s lying on the cold ground, wires wrapped around her arms and back, feeling the grit digging into her neck, Donna sees her again. </p>
<p>Her vision blurs, but it’s definitely her in that electric blue jacket, with that strained, sympathetic smile. The wolf is beside her, pressed up to her leg, impossibly large and real. Its hot breath washes over her face at the same time Rose bends down close enough to whisper a message to the Doctor in her ear. </p>
<p>“Tell him this-”</p>
<p>By the time Donna opens her eyes again, Rose and her wolf are gone. There’s noise, she knows there’s noise all around her; people shouting, some woman crying, a man speaking on the phone, car horns blaring up and down the road. It’s loud but at the same time it’s distant, like she’s slipped behind a curtain and the rest of the world’s going on with its business on the other side of the stage. </p>
<p>Above her, the skies are blue and white, covered in white clouds and it’s a nice view, one of the nicer views she’s seen in a long time. It reminds her of days when she had a normal life, when going around the shops at the weekend with Rina and having a cheeky drink at one of the fancier bars before idly wondering how long it’d take to flag a taxi down to get home. </p>
<p>
  <em>“You did good. You were amazing.”</em>
</p>
<p>Donna hears the voice and her heart almost stops, because it sounds so, so much like her own voice. </p>
<p>But she had <em>never</em> spoken so confidently. Brash and blasé she could’ve done, at least a few years back, but this was different. The voice was thankful. It was calm, and warm, and encouraging. It was everything she had wanted to hear, and although it clearly wanted to provide some comfort, she felt like it passed over her. </p>
<p>
  <em>“You can rest now. I promise, things will be alright. You were so brave.”</em>
</p>
<p>“Not brave.” Donna whispered back, thinking of how she had stepped out into the road, desperate and fearful of the oncoming truck. “Not now.” </p>
<p>When she tried to shake her head, the ground moved and things hurt, so she shut her eyes and in the dark she saw stars, golden pinpricks of light behind her eyelids, forever swirling, breathing in millennia and breathing out pure creation. </p>
<p>
  <em>“Donna Noble, the bravest woman in existence. You’ve got so much more to come, just you wait! The universe has been waiting just for you.” </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>if the timelines rippled back, then i say that the DoctorDonna got to speak to Donna</p></blockquote></div></div>
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